There are a couple of factors that I use to differentiate between a general 'chick-lit'/woman's fiction and a romance book, at least to classify it on my blog. If the story within the pages is all about the balance between two people, preferably with both viewpoints, then it counts as a romance. If the romance is a side product of the growth of the lead protagonist (as it usually is) and the machinations and plans during the narrative are for a higher purpose, it is not solely a romantic book.
This story falls under the latter criteria. Although the central plot revolves around matchmaking and couples finding happily ever afters, it is more about Katie Collins finding out what she truly wants in life.
Katie has been living in the same small town forever. She works at the local pub, the same one where her parents met and where she once did her homework. Suffice it to say she is extremely attached to it. When the local developers who have big plans for the neighbouring area (and are in the process of realising them) decide they want to buy the pub as well, Katie has a new agenda.
I liked how the practicalities of hosting a matchmaking event are handled. On the first day, when people are to meet the ones who technically match up to them, things do not go according to plan. The entire scheme is to bring new interest into their town and give them the freedom to retain the 'feel' of their community.
I also liked the final realistic relationship between erstwhile enemies when forced into regular proximity. I have read two other books by the author and like the narrative style. The characters and their conversations are always entertaining, and I ended up reading this in very few sittings.
I would recommend this book and the author for fans of this genre.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Katie is determined to save her small Irish Village of Ennisbawn from a developer that wants to turn it in a touristy area. Callum is working as part of the construction crew with the developer, but after meeting Katie, he's had a change of heart and wants to help her as she makes a decision to bring back an old village tradition of a Matchmaker festival.

I previously read Holiday Romance from Catherine Walsh and I was smitten from the first page. The Matchmaker took a whopping 50% before I felt like I was actually interested in reading the book.
I almost DNF'ed at 40% because I struggled with just not feeling interested. Katie and Callum had very little chemistry, I was actually more invested in the relationship of the side characters.

Overall, just eh about the finished book.

However, huge thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The opinion is 100% my own.

This story was absolutely adorable and gave me all the feels. The characters were sweet and I immediately fell in love with them. This was a great enemies to lovers story that was right up my alley. Kate has lived all her life in a quaint Irish village, and she loves it just the way it is. But then Callum comes to town wanting to build hotels and tear down smaller businesses, such as the pub where her parents had met at the matchmaking festival that was always held there. Kate decides to revive the festival in an effort to save the town and the pub, and Callum ends up helping her and is quite successful at charming her in the process. I was pulled into the story from the start and remained engaged till the end. Such a fun-filled romance that left me with a smile on my face! If you're looking for a heartwarming, funny, cute romance, then I would definitely recommend you give this a try!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Was a great book. Love the whole matchmaking process. I hate that the pub is possibly getting torn down. Then Katie finds something in Callum that would change everything. The whole coming out of nowhere romance is my favorite thing about the book

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my gifted copy. I’m a bit late to the party, but wanted to share my thoughts. ’The Matchmaker’ is a sweet easy read, however the plot could do with more depth, accompanied by stronger visuals.

3.5/5

Last year, I read 'Holiday Romance', my first encounter with Catherine Walsh. I loved that book! It was fun, romantic, sweet and the perfect holiday romance (you wouldn't say with that title). Since that moment I wanted to read every book of this author, so I knew I needed to read 'The Matchmaker'.

And this book was also so cute! It was not as cute or good as 'Holiday Romance', but I loved the atmosphere of the small Irish village and all the people in it. I also loved that fact that the book is not completely or only about romance. This book is about Katie, who finds herself while saving her place of work and her village. I loved the way she didn't give up, even though everything did not according to plan.

But I have to say, in the beginning I thought Katie was a little bit 'whiney'. She's grown a lot over the book, but in the beginning she was not the most likable character. Luckily that changes quickly.
And Callum? Where can we find a Callum? Absolutely a man written by a woman, but don't we all love them?

I would absolute recommend this one!

4 stars!

Another fun sweet romcom by Catherine Walsh! The I loved the characters and their sense of humors and the small town setting was perfect!! If you love the save-a small-town romance trope then definitely read this!

Enjoyable but not my favourite by this author. Full of banter and some serious issues to balance it out. If you like insta love then this book had that vibe. A good enemies to lovers story in a great setting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start by saying that I absolutely adored this book!

I enjoyed the setting, characters and plot line. I really liked Walsh's writing and would love to read more from this author.
I did, however, have a tiny issue with the pacing - hence it not being 5 stars.

I thought this was a cute book that had a good balance of tropes and plots but I had some struggles with characters and pacing.

The female MC was my fav of the book, but didn’t feel strong attachments to the others.

Appreciate the opportunity to read this ARC.

Catherine Walsh’s The Match Maker transports readers to Ennisbawn, a small ( fictional) town in the Irish countryside. When a big corporation begins buying Ennisbawn in hopes of turning it into a tourist attraction, locals fear their charming town will cease to exist. Spearheaded by Katie, the town bartender, the town devises a plan to bring back their match making festival. Will the attention and money raised be enough to save their town? Or will Ennisbawn be lost forever?

Having read Walsh’s previous works, I knew I could count on her for a cute read. I was once again immediately drawn into the story. Walsh does a fantastic job creating well-rounded characters. In fact, I was so invested that I loved some of the secondary characters just as much as the primary ones.

The one thing I will say I wish had been different was the title of the book. I found it to be a bit misleading. While Katie does spend some time as a match maker, she primarily focuses her attention on being the spokesperson and coordinator of the festival.

Special thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me to read this books in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book was a great fast story with a romance plot and some comedy sprinkles. I enjoyed reading this book especially at nighttime before going to bed since it is not very hard to understand and the story is really light and cozy. The characters are great and I enjoyed reading about characters that are a little bit older and not still in highschool or college. The idea of the matchmaking festival was also quit fun and I loved to see this project grow during the book. I really liked this book and would recommend to everyone who likes a nice and cozy romance.
The only thing I did not enjoy much was the ending. While other books often have endings that are too fast, this books ending was in my opinion a little bit too long streched.

This was such a comforting and heartwarming read, I had the best time reading this!!

Katie was so lovely and I loved how determined she was to save her town and the people in it! I love the found family aspect that small town romances give, and Walsh really delivered with that theme here. I was rooting for all the side characters and was so invested in their relationships too!

Katie felt like a best friend, she was just so easy to cheer for and I was eager to find out what decisions she would make regarding both the town and her relationship with Callum.
I really enjoyed the conflict with Callum being so connected to the changes happening in her town and seeing how Katie reacted to it all made her feel more real to me.

I really enjoyed Callum's character arc and seeing him grow throughout the book, he was just so endearing and I loved how supportive he was of Katie! He was so charismatic and every interaction he had with Katie was so lovely to read. The chemistry between them was palpable and I loved seeing them together!!

Katie Collins loves her small town village but a real estate developer has come into town and is quickly disturbing small town life. Katie is tired of being woken up every morning to the sounds of construction. She marches over to the construction site in her ducky pjs to confront the project manager and makes a bit of a fool of herself. Callum ultimately wants to knock down the town's pub to make room for a hotel but Katie is going to do whatever she can to save the town. Her idea is to revive the town's matchmaking festival.

This was a cute read with a beautiful Irish setting but ultimately lacked a spark for me. It was a little too insta-lovey hallmark. Catherine Walsh writes these small Irish town stories with charm but ultimately I enjoyed her previous book, The Rebound, better.

Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine Walsh, and Bookouture for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own. #netgalley #thematchmaker #bookouture

I’m coming off a heavy fantasy kick so it was time for me to get back to one of my favorite romance writers: Catherine Walsh! Her debut, one night only, was one of my top ten reads from 2021. Holiday romance was my favorite Christmas story last year, and now we have match maker for me to add to my list of favorites.
I LOVED that this didn’t have a third act breakup. I love that the MMC was unwavering in his support once they switched from enemies to lovers. I love that the conflict in the story came from outside the relationship, much like You and I, Rewritten (which was also in my top reads from last year).
This book was fun and sweet and damn it if this hormonal pregnant lady didn’t cry when the two supporting characters (who had always been just friends) got together at the match making festival. So many cute feels.

This is my first Catherine Walsh book but it won’t be my last. The Matchmaker is a sweet rom-com full of banter and wit. I loved all of the relationships in the story. Each relationship has its own unique element (the grumpy pub owner, the snarky best friend, the witty old granny) that make it special. At times I found that I was reading the story more for the characters than the plot. I’d love to read future stories set in this village. This is a great book to get you out of a reading slump. It’s an easy read that flows nicely. The story is so much fun that I often didn’t realize how long I was reading for. It’s a light-hearted, feel good book.

I enjoyed the romantic cliches. The story gave me hallmark movie vibes; the small town being taken over by the big business and it’s up to one girl to save the town (while meeting a new love interest). Not only is this a romance novel but it’s also an uplifting story about a small community coming together. Everyone works together and does their part to save the town.

Now for what I didn’t love: while I wouldn’t call this book instalove, things did move slightly awkwardly in the book. Their romance was progressing at a nice slow pace but after one kiss he picks Katie and quits his job. I would think it would take a little more for him to quit his job (especially since his brother is his boss). Them automatically becoming exclusive and being in love was kind of weird. I was enjoying the slow burn and was taken back when it came full on so quickly. I would have liked a little more will they won’t they before the big climactic love declaration.

I enjoyed the save the small town village storyline better than the romantic one. The romance didn’t really stand out to me. It was pretty generic and boring at times. I was more intrigued by Katie’s tenacity and drive to make the matchmaking festival bigger than ever and to take down Glenmill.

Somehow the actual romance aspect made me take a star off of my review. The true star of the show as the friendships and camaraderie, not the love story. I’d recommend for people looking for an easy read that’s light on romance and drama.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.
The Matchmaker is the story of a small town bartender, Katie, who bands her friends together to throw a matchmaking festival to save her local pub from takeover by a greedy corporation. Callum, her love interest, works for said corporation, naturally. I liked Katie, I liked her town, I liked Callum, I liked the endearing side characters, but this one still fell short for me. Katie and Callum never even had a real conversation (truly!) before he was blowing up his life for her. Their relationship felt flimsy. The conflict with the corporation also seemed to drag on. I was fatigued at 60% through the book and could not believe I wasn’t finished at 80%! I personally would suggest reading other titles by this author over this one.

I immediately knew this was going to be a fun read, I found Callum to be hilarious. It was so heart-warming and sweet. I did feel as though it got a little slow at times, and i felt like i wanted more from the two main love interest too, but it was an easy and enjoyable read.

I LOVED this book!!

I loved going back to Ireland, as I lived there for about 8 months.

Now, about the book, specifically Katie, I adored her. I was in awe of her determination and passion, not only about the pub but also the people she cared about. Her friendship with Gemma and Nush was the cutest and her granny was the best haha. However, she annoyed me sometimes which made her character even better and more human. We all mess up, that's a part of life and the fact that Katie wasn't perfect was top notch.

About Callum, my sweet man. I wish we got to see more of him because what we saw was the cutest!! The fact the got the crew to back off so Katie would sleep more in the morning!!!! What a man! And he was willing to follow her whenever she went!!! I just loved him haha.

Now, about the book. I loved reading it. It made me all warm and fuzzy to see everyone come together to save the pub. Overall, it was an amazing book and I'll definitely be checking out Catherine's other books :)

Thank you Catherine Walsh and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of The Matchmaker

Set in Ireland AND he falls first. I’m swooning. I LOVED this book. The idea behind the book is super cute and gives me Hallmark vibes. The plot is great and the banter and relationship between Katie and Callum is so perfect. I love how their story develops and the twists and turns they run into along the way. Ends with an HEA!